■1.5« 



THEFARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



October, ISi"^ 



Jt was true llieie uie puiHts of difference be- 

 tween the two couiitriLS. 



Ill his coiiiiiry, hh Excellency remarked, the 

 nation was a cieat |irn|iririor of laud in a state 

 of natiii-p. and it .i^VitimI ilie fee siin|)le of the 

 soil to every purchaser at about five shillings 

 stei liiii; per acre. With this temptation to es- 

 tablisliiiew farms, it was not possible that in a 

 young country there could be the high finish that 

 he every where observed in England. There 

 was a corislclerahle difference in climate; in 

 summer the maize, or Indian corn, was extensive- 

 iv cultivated in the United States; but in winter 

 the severe cold limited the turnip culture which 

 was the basis of so much profitable farming in 

 England. But substantially speaking, the gener- 

 al busiuess of industry, the care and tillage of 

 the land, the choice and improvement ot stock, 

 were the same in the two countries. 



He hoped and prayed that the two countries, 

 the same in blood, as His Grace had happily ob- 

 served, and more akin in every thing than any 

 nations in history, would never be found arrayed 

 against each otiier except in generous competi 



tion to promote their 



al ffooc 



and to con- 



tribute to the interests of mankind in the propor- 

 tion that the world expected from their opportu- 

 nities and civilization. (Cheers.) 



If, as the noble chairman had said, there was a 

 general exclusion of poliiical topics at the pres- 

 ent meelini;, he (Mr. Everett) was, of course, the 

 last indiviihial who could with propriety enter 

 that field. But he felt that he was safe in follow- 

 ing any example of the chairman ; and he be- 

 lieved "it was wishe<l, that he should say a word 

 as to the probable effect of the new corn law on 

 the importation of ?iain from America. He 

 concurred with the noble Duke in thinking that 

 it was too early to form a decided opinion on that 

 subject. But it was his general impression, that 

 whatever might be the effect on other States, 

 America was too distant to reap the full benefit 

 of tho.<!e modifications. He might add, Ibat, 

 from the price of grain in the United States now 

 and for several years past, he did not think that, 

 in common years, a deraniremeiit of the British 

 grain market was likely to be cau.sed by importa- 

 tion from America. Undoubtedly in seasons of 

 scarcity, when there is a great demand for for- 

 eign corn, a part of the supply would come from 

 America in the shape of floiu'; of which more 

 or less, indeed at all times, found its way to this 

 country. Salt provisions too, would be imported 

 from the United States. But whatever came 

 over, corn or provrsions, much or little, they 

 might depend upon it would be paid for in Brit- 

 ish manufictured goods. (Tremendous cheer- 

 ing.) The Americans would not be like his 

 Grace's friend ; they would not be put to the 

 blush by having to receive a large price ininon- 

 ey ; but whatever they sent, in the Ibrm of pro- 

 visions or grain, woiild be paid for in British 

 goods. The fabrics of Leceister and other man- 

 ufacturing towns, would pay ibr the growth of 

 the AmeriiMU soil. (Uetiewed applause.) 



His Excellency said that it was not his lot to 

 be a cultivator of the fields; but it was his duty 

 and his privilege to do his best to cultivate a good 

 understanding with this country on behalf of his 

 own, and this part of his instructions it was nol 

 likely he could ever forget (Cheers), or relax in 

 the discharge of a province so grateful to Ins 

 feelings. His first duty was to his own country; 

 but after the auspicious adjustment of the diffi- 

 culties that now no longer existed, he could not 

 do his duty to his own country, without cultiva- 

 ting the kindest feelings between this and that. 

 In resnmiiiir his seat, his Excellency said, he 

 hoped the i-iirn|niiy would deign to accept his 

 earnest wislies that they might be all [irosperous 

 in their l)eiii-n art— trom that noble landlord 

 whose tenilorial possessiDiis dated back from the 

 Conquest, to llie poor Inil contented laborer, who 

 dwelt beneath the shelter of his towers. Collec- 

 tively and individually, he tendered his best wish- 

 es and thanks to thetii all. (Great cheering.) 



From Dana's Muck Manual. 

 Irrigation. 

 Irrigation is chiefly employed on grass lands. 

 The green sward here may not be broken up — 

 what if it was? What if, by ploughing, it was 

 exposed to the action of the air.' Remember 

 the properties of geine. Air converts the insol- 

 uWo to soluble, by forming carbonic ooid, that is, 



the air combines with the carbon of the geine, 

 and forms that gas. Give the geine this oxygen, 

 condensed in water; wet it with this concen- 

 trated oxygen, crowd it into geine, as would be 

 done by overflowing a meadow with water. It 

 penetrates every crack and cranny, and every 

 mole's eye hole ; it expels the carbonic acid im- 

 prisoned under the sod. It is doing the same 

 work upon the untouched green sw^ard, which 

 would be effected by ploughing and tillage. The 

 long and the short of the whole action of irriga- 

 tion with pure limpid water is, that its absorbed 

 oxygen converts insoluble to soluble geine. Is 

 this explanation which science offers, confirmed 

 by practice.' The a|)peal is made to all who 

 have attended either to the theory or practice of 

 irrigation, to bear witness to its truth. It is not 

 admitted, that running waters are alone fit for 

 this purpose ? That after remaining a few days, 

 they are abated, and a new flood must cover the 

 land .' Is not this necessity, of renewing at short 

 periods the covering of water, which shows no 

 deposit, a proof that it has given up some invis- 

 ible agent to fertilize the earth ? This invisible 

 agent is oxygen. Is it not evident from the ex- 

 treme slowness with which air is absorbed by 

 water, that, if it were not for the running water, 

 which every few days replaces that which has 

 acted, that the practice of irrigation with pure 

 water coulii be never successful .' 



This is the principle, a principle which having 

 been wholly overlooked, has led to a vvaste of 

 time and money, and has given to irrigation, in 

 many minds, the odor, if not of a bad, at least 

 of a useless practice. Where, guided by this 

 light of science, grass lands can be irrigated, let 

 it be done. If the experience of the most en- 

 lightened agricidturists in Europe is not all de- 

 ception, liy simple irrigation with running water, 

 the farmer may cut two tons of hay, where he 

 toils and sweats to rake off one. 



But by far the most fertile source of increased 

 crops, by irrigation, is found in the impurity of 

 water; the salts and suspended matter, the slime 

 and genial mud of freshet.s. Perhaps the effects 

 due to this cause cannot be better illustrated 

 than by a .statement of those substances, and 

 their amount, which fill the waters of the Merri- 

 mack ; a flood of blessings which rolls by those 

 engaged in the din and hot haste of manufac- 

 ture, as uidieeded as was the oarlli<|uaKe which 

 thundered, and trembled, and rolled nway under 

 the feet of the fierce soldiery, in an ancient bat- 

 tle. In the year 1838, iluring twenty-three days 

 of freshets, from May till November, no less than 

 71,874,00:3 [)ounds of geine and salts rolled by 

 the city of Lowell, borne seaward. Din'ing the 

 five days of the great freshet, from January 28th 

 to February 1st, 1839, no less than 3.5,970,807 

 pounds of the same matter rolled by at from the 

 rate of 112,138 pounds to 20,405,.3'.)7 [lounds per 

 day; each cubic foot of water bearing onwards 

 from li to 301 grains. This is only the suspend- 

 ed matter. That which is chemically dissolved 

 by the water.s, the fine filmy depositc, which oc- 

 curs in a few days after the coarser and grosser 

 matters subside — and the matter ordinarily sus- 

 pended in the water of the river added to the 

 above, for the year 1838, give a grand total of 

 8.39,181 tons of salts and t'eiiie which were rolled 

 down in the waters of the Merrimack river. 



What is this matter.' Is it of any agricultural 

 value .' The answer to the first question will an- 

 swer both. The dissolved salts are sulphate and 

 geate of lime, and the fine deposite occurring 

 after the water has settled, is composed of one 

 half of geine, and the remainder of salts of 

 lime and silicates. The great agri(-nltural value 

 is found in the clayey deposite which occurs in 

 the first few Hay.s. The coarser part, that which 

 collects about the foot of rocks, and falls and 

 eddies, is composed as follows: 



Geine, •.VJ2 



Silex, 7;J.70 



Oxi<le of iron, 9.1.5 



Alnmina, 8.30 



Lime, 0..51 



Magnesia, O.IO; but con- 



sidering the elements as we have usually treated 

 them, as silicates, .salts and geine, the composi- 

 tion of the several deposites is shown in the fc)l- 

 lowing table : 



aeine. Stilphate Ph. of 



Sol. In. of lime. lime. Sil. 



^'^fatoT^!' \ ^-"^ '•'* °-''* °-^ ^■'^ 



7— li 



6.30 



2.34 

 3.20 



iH..6G 

 81.20 



If the doctrine of the action of silicates, salts 

 and geine, upon each oilier when aiileil bv f;row- 

 ing plants, is eonsidereil, it caiiiupt lail lo be per- 

 ceived, that llie fertility ot soils, pfriuilic-aih over- 

 flowed by turbid waters, is owiii;; to the ele"ments, 

 salts and geine which i! loriiaiiis, and to the ex- 

 quisitely finely divided stale of tlie silicates which 

 form the bulk of the deposit. The carbonic acid 

 of the air, acts on each atom of silicate, while ow- 

 ing to the geine, having been, as it were, irri- 

 gated, the o.xygen of the air and water, must ]iut 

 that into a state to evolve carbonic acid. — 

 Hence, the silicates are at once decomposed and 

 their alkali liberated. How beautiful ! It seems 

 like a special interposition of that Beneficent 

 Power, whose blessings, while they fill us with 

 wondering admiration, at the infinite skill, which 

 directs every change in the material universe, 

 should teach us also, that these changes are held 

 up to us, not only to admire, but in some humble 

 degree to imitate. Whenever man, "the faithful 

 servant and interpreter of nature," hasthus learn- 

 ed the lessons propounded by an Infinite mind, 

 he finds when he humbly imitates nature's laws, 

 she is a kind and indulgent parent. She opens 

 her hand liberally, and gives ferlility by irrigation, 

 and rivers and streams hke holy water, sprinkled 

 by a reverend lather.liintily all they bedew. With 

 hearts thus attiiiied, by the obse'rvation of the 

 laws of nature, tliey respond to the gentle vibra- 

 tions, caused by the descent of genial and fertil- 

 izing showers. 



Rain is only natural irrigation ; the water is 

 found like that of rivers, rich in oxygen, and or- 

 ganic matter. The fertilizing power of rain, is 

 referred to the same caii.ses, which lead to irriga- 

 tion, to the salts and geine which rain water con- 

 tains. Several chemists have proved the exist- 

 ence of saline matteis and organic substances in 

 the air. The (ailing laiii, carries down with it 

 salts of ammonia, ofiinie, and a flocky organic 

 matter. These all may be supposed floating in the 

 air. The dry soils, give to the winds an impalpa- 

 ble dust, its silicates and geine. When hailstones 

 which have been fbrmc'l in the regions of per- 

 petual fi'ost, exhibit almost the same substances, 

 which are comaiued in r.iin water, the height at 

 wlii(rh these mailers float, would almost compel 

 the supposition that tin y exist in a gaseous state. 

 From the exainiu ition of hailstones by Girardin, 

 a French chemist, it appears, that no sensible 

 trace of ainmouia was ili^tected during the evap- 

 oration of their water, but there was found a no- 

 table quantity of lime and sulphiirio acid ; and 

 above all, a large proportion of an organic sub- 

 stance containing nitrogen. Melted hailstones 

 have the appearance of water, containing a drop 

 or two of milk ; by standing, the water grows 

 clear, and the flocky nialter which settles, burns 

 with the smell of" animal matter and evolves am- 

 monia. 



It is a question whether, even sit the Giessen 

 laboratory, this was not the source of the ammo- 

 nia there discovereil in rain water. It is taken 

 for granted that the ninniunia in rain water exist- 

 ed as a volatile carbonate, liecanse it was found 

 to pass over in distillation. So did a volatile pro- 

 duct, which always discolored the crystals of sal 

 ammoniac, procured by ailding a muriatic acid to 

 the distilled water. This discoloring matter, was 

 noticed a century ago, by Margraf. Later chem- 

 ists have also detectetl ammoniacal salts in rain 

 water, but no volatile carbonate of that base. It 

 is well known that muriate of soda arises in evap- 

 oration, so dots chromate of pfitash and several 

 other salts. If in distilling rain vvcter, the iim- 

 nionia did not pass over in the volafile organic 

 discoloring proiluct, it may have gone over as mu- 

 riate of ammonia, it is not questioned that am- 

 moniacal salts exist in rain and snow water. The 

 fact tliat ii there exists as carbonate, seems to be 

 .■issiiuied and is incompatible with the salts which 

 have been herelolbre obtarued, from rain, snow, 

 and hail. This subject has of late excited much 

 attention, and as the existence of salts in snow 

 is intimately connected with the old saying, that 

 •' the snow is the poor man's manure," it may be 

 worth while to examine the foundation of this 

 proverb. Likf all others of this class, it will be 

 found to rest on observation, and is support< d by 

 experiment. In 1751, Margraf, in the neighbor- 

 hood of Berlin, after it had suowed several hours, 



